A person who acquires English has access to all the things that that language makes possible.

I was wondering why I was put in prison for working in an African language when I had not been put in prison for working in English. So really, in prison I started thinking more seriously about the relation between language and power.

It was a revelation for me, in a practical sense, that you could write in an African language and still reach an audience beyond that language through the art of translation.

There is no way we can survive as a nation in the world without finding unity.

Any writer likes to be near the area which is the location of his work.

Through the act of translation we break out of linguistic confinement and reach many other communities.

What is translated from English and into English - and in what quantities - is a question of power.